The shocking real-life story of the Menendez brothers who brutally killed their parents – as Netflix Monsters dramatises case that stunned America
The chilling composure with which brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez shot dead their parents at point blank range in 1996 is recounted in the first episode of the new Monsters series, released today on Netflix.
The brutal 1989 murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverley Hills mansion captivated America 35 years ago – and the first installment of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story portrays the bloody moment the brothers entered their parents lavish California home armed with 12-gauge shotguns and unleashed 14 shots, killing their parents instantly.
Released today on the streaming platform, the nine-part series is the second in the Monster series, which sees journalist Ryan Murphy examining true crime stories that shocked the world.
The first, released in 2022: Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, was a global hit, thanks to its deep-dive into the life and crimes of notorious serial killer Jeffery Dahmer, known as the Milwaukee Cannibal.
Back in the spotlight: Lyle, left, and Erik, right, Menendez were just 22 and 19 when they entered their parents Beverley Hills home armed with 12-gauge shotguns and killed them in cold blood in a case that shocked the US
Horror: Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny pictured as Jose and Kitty Menendez at the moment their sons burst into their living room armed with shotguns
The first brutal episode of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story sees the brothers open fire on their parents, shooting them dead at point blank range with 14 shots
The second Netflix Monster series – after the first in 2022 focused on Jeremy Dahmer – was released yesterday and dramatises the brutal August 1989 killings of Jose and Kitty Menendez at the hands of their own sons. Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch, pictured, play Lyle and Erik Menendez
Thirty five years have passed since Kitty, a socialite, and Jose Menendez, a Cuban immigrant with an executive role in the entertainment business, were murdered by their sons at their luxury mansion in Beverley Hills, California
Now, Murphy’s latest work, entitled Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, stars Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as the Menendez parents, and Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch as their sons.
The controversial series follows the subsequent two trials that followed the murders – and the sexual abuse allegations made by Lyle and Erik, now 56 and 53, against their father that they claimed were their motive.
The nine-parter also touches on the continued divided opinion over whether the brothers should end their days in jail, with attitudes towards the impact of sexual abuse having changed since they were sent to prison.
The siblings currently both reside at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California.
Here, MAILONLINE looks at how the real-life killings happened – and what viewers can expect in Netflix’s retelling of the crimes…
AUGUST 2OTH 1989: HOW JOSE AND KITTY MENENDEZ WERE KILLED IN THEIR OWN HOME AT CLOSE RANGE – BY THEIR SONS
Scene of the crime: The Beverley Hills mansion where Jose and Kitty Menendez met their brutal deaths in August 1989
The Ryan Murphy series, titled Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, stars Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as the Menendez parents, and Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch as their sons
The 1989 murders gripped America, as people struggled to understand how the brothers, who’d lived a life of privilege has turned on their own parents (Pictured: Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny pictured as Jose and Kitty Menendez during the brutal murder scene)
Denial: The brothers initially suggested the Mafia may have killed their parents – because they both had kneecap wounds, a trademark of a mob killing (Pictured Javier Bardem as Jose Menendez and Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez)
On August 20th, 1989, Lyle, a then-22-year-old Princeton student, and Erik, a then-19-year-old professional tennis player, walked into the den of their $5 million Beverly Hills mansion and shot their father Jose point blank in the back of the head, before turning the gun on their mother as she tried to run from the room.
In total, they shot Jose five times and Kitty, nine.
Episode one of the Netflix series depicts how after they killed their parents, both brothers discarded of the guns on Mulholland Drive, and bought tickets to the cinema to see a movie.
They later returned to the crime scene where Lyle called 911, reportedly ‘hysterical’ over the sight of his deceased parents in their living room.
At first the brothers pleaded their innocence, adding that the Mafia may have even carried out the killings – given both parents were shot in the knees.
SHOPPING SPREES AND A COUCH CONFESSION: HOW LYLE AND ERIK ADMITTED THEIR CRIMES DURING A THERAPY SESSION
As the Netflix series recounts, the brothers enjoyed spending their murdered parents’ money in the weeks and months after they’d slain them, with Lyle wearing his dead father’s designer shoes, and the pair splashing out on expensive watches, condominiums and sports cars.
Seven months after the bodies of Joe and Kitty were discovered, the brothers finally faced the law after a session with their Beverly Hills therapist, Jerome Oziel, saw them confess.
In the months after the murders, the brothers set about spending their parents inheritance, with shopping sprees, and even wearing their father’s clothes
Therapy session confession: The brothers were arrested seven months after the killings after discussing the murders with their therapist. Pictured: Nicholas Alexander Chavez plays Lyle Menendez (left) – the eldest brother, opposite Cooper Koch as Erik (right)
The series dramatizes the murders of Jose and Kitty Menedez and the trials of Lyle and Erik
The moment the two brothers were ushered into a California court room to be tried for the murder of their parents
Lyle’s then girlfriend Judalon Smyth went to police after she heard an audiotape of a therapy session in which the brothers discussed the killings.
Lyle was arrested on March 8th in 1990 outside of his parents’ home and Erik was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport two days later.
TWO TRIALS… AND TWO LIFE SENTENCES: HOW LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ WERE FINALLY CONVICTED
Prosecutors initially believed that Lyle and Erik killed their parents because they wanted unfettered access to their $14 million estate – but a motive that had nothing to do with money quickly became clear.
The siblings claimed they’d been molested by their father from a young age, and were forced to touch one another when they were little – ultimately leaving them fearing for their life and desperate for a way out.
Javier Bardem (pictured) plays Jose Menendez in the series: he was the subject of the brothers’ claims of a motive, with both Lyle and Erik claiming their father had subjected them to long-term sexual abuse
During the trial, the siblings told a disturbing tale of how they were molested by their father from a young age – ultimately leaving them fearing for their life and desperate for a way out
During the three-year trials, one of the witnesses claimed that Lyle and Erik were inspired to commit the double parricide by 1987 film Billionaire Boys Club, starring Judd Nelson (pictured)
The brothers (seen in 1990) were convicted in 1996 of killing their father, Jose Menendez, a music executive, and their mother, Mary Louise ‘Kitty’ Menendez, a former beauty queen
Tried twice, during the first trial, the brothers claimed that they confronted their father about his alleged abuse, and he became enraged – forcing them to kill out of concern for their safety. However, it had a hung jury and was ultimately ruled a mistrial.
The pair were re-trialed together, and their claims of abuse ruled inadmissible by a judge. Lyle and Erik narrowly avoided the death penalty in 1996 and were sent to separate maximum security prisons for 22 years.
They are both now serving their sentences at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California, after Lyle was moved there in 2018. Erik was already at the prison.
COULD NETFLIX SERIES HELP THE BROTHERS CASE FOR RELEASE?
The brothers, pictured in more recent photos. Lyle (left), 56, and Erik Menendez (right), 53, claimed they were driven to murder after facing a lifetime of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse
The brothers have received support since the murders – with some calling for their release, saying the impact of sexual abuse means they should serve a shorter sentence
While the brothers continued to serve out life sentences, there has been a growing movement to see them released on the grounds of the sexual abuse they claim they endured.
The brothers’ case was boosted in 2023 when Roy Rossello, a former singer in the boy band Menudo, claimed that their father had raped him at 13.
The Menendezs’ lawyers also filed a recently unearthed letter that Erik sent his cousin Andy Cano about eight months before the killings.
‘I’ve been trying to avoid dad,’ the hand-scrawled message read. ‘It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He is so overweight that I can’t stand to see him.
The series will put the case back in the spotlight, more than 30 years after the trial took place
‘I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night, I stay up thinking he might to come in. I need to put it out of my mind.
‘I know what you said before but I’m afraid. You just don’t know dad like I do. He’s crazy. He’s warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.’
Cano testified that when Erik was 13, he came to him and told him that his father Jose was touching and ‘massaging’ his genitals, asking if that was ‘normal’.
Another one of their cousins’, Diane Vander Molen, also said that Lyle spoke about the abuse to her when he was eight years old, and that she went to his mother about his confession, but was told he was lying.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is out on Netflix now